This was written some time ago but still stands! and it was written before Russia Invaded Ukraine, some of these things may already be in train? is HALEU fuel coming from UNF at Wilmington where it will be made into 8% enriced fuel LEU+ or some call it HALEU. the initial lot of HALEU came from Centrus I believe and made into HALEU and it came from recycled Uranium 235 which came from UNF used once in the old ERB11 .
https://www.thirdway.org/memo/fueling-americas-nuclear-energy-leadership
Fueling America’s Nuclear Energy Leadership
The availability of high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) will be a deciding factor in whether the United States leads the world in the development of advanced nuclear reactors or watches from the sidelines as foreign competitors dominate the marketplace. Because most advanced reactors will require HALEU to operate, Congress and federal agencies need to ensure that it will be commercially available when the first wave of advanced reactors hits the market.
Interest in advanced nuclear reactors has grown tremendously over the past several years—and for good reason. For one, advanced reactors could be a significant source of carbon-free power to help us hit our climate goals. Advanced reactors also have the potential to jumpstart the US domestic nuclear industry, creating jobs and lucrative export opportunities. This expanded presence in the global nuclear market, in turn, would allow the US to continue to influence nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation norms around the world. So it’s safe to say that getting advanced nuclear over the finish line would be a big win for several national priorities.
The good news is that there are over 70
advanced nuclear projects underway in the US and a number of these have already passed significant commercial milestones in the deployment process. DOE partnerships have provided millions of dollars of support and expertise to these companies through programs such as
GAIN and
ARPA-E.
But absence of HALEU would cause more than just reduced performance or the loss of some very important advantages of advanced reactor designs. Without HALEU, a large number of the emerging advanced reactor designs
will not be able to operate at all. Without a dependable, commercially available supply of HALEU, even the most promising US reactor designs could be dead in the water.
But even if the US develops a commercial HALEU enrichment capacity, we’ll need to develop, test, and regulate new methods of fabricating and
transporting higher assay fuels in order to form a complete supply chain.
1. Congress can support a domestic uranium enrichment capability and supply chain, starting with HALEU production in the 2020’s
The need for a new transportation package from the enrichment plant to the fabrication facility could be sidestepped by co-locating the facilities, but ultimately a full range of HALEU transportation packages need to be developed to allow for safe, efficient, transportation at each step in the process.8
https://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/GNF-gets-approval-to-manufacture-higher-enrichment[/sup]
The NRC's licence amendment approval means that Global Nuclear Fuel's plant in Wilmington, North Carolina, is the first commercial facility in the USA licensed to fabricate fuel enrichments containing up to 8% by weight uranium-235 (U-235?
(20min delay)
